Darkness is Unpleasant
by phfatbeatrice
Summary: Fukawa hadn't always been so frightened of the darkness. This is an account of what happened to her that caused her extreme nyctophobia.


She sat in her room, tears streaking her pale cheeks. Her hands were shaking with fear as she looked at the report card in her grip. She had gotten another B in math class. She knew that her parents were going to punish her for it. Last time she had gotten a B in her math class, her father had starved her for four days. She could not even begin to even imagine what kind of punishment he would create for her now.

Right as she thought about it, her father came into her room without even a knock. She held her breath, looking up at him with eyes that looked like a beaten animal, "I-I'm sorry, father... I-I didn't mean for thi-!"

He didn't even look at the report card and pinned her against the wall by her neck. "Shut up." He said as he loosened his grip, letting the girl go. He picked up her report card off of her floor before reading it and then hitting Fukawa very hard across her head. "Fucking useless child." He said, grabbing her long braids in his large hands.

"I-I said I w-was sorry...! I studied r-really really really hard..!" Fukawa pleaded with her father, but he wasn't listening.

He kept pulling her by her hair until he got to the hall closet, one of the smallest places in the house. He let go of her braids and pushed her into the closet. He slammed the door, locking it behind himself, "I'm going to keep you in there until I think you've learned your lesson."

Fukawa didn't even try to fight back. She knew that her father was going to do something to her for failing to make a 4.0 GPA or higher. She had prepared for it.

Fukawa stayed in there for what she could only have assumed was overnight before her house evoke quiet, which scared her more than when her father first out her in the closet. She cried all throughout the night, not getting any sleep. She couldn't breath and her mind was racing. She took in deep, heavy breaths, trying to stabilise herself.

After many hours of sobbing and staring at the small crack under the door, she saw a light come on. She hit the closet door, before letting out a sob, begging following that. "Please let me out...! I promise I'll do better next time, I promise..!" She took in deep gasps, having trouble breathing. Her only light source was the stream of light under the door.

No one responded to her. In fact, the light went out right after her begging. She let out dry heaves, her mind racing. Being in the closed space of the closet in the pitch blackness where she couldn't even see her own hands...! Fukawa couldn't breath and she was making herself nauseous on her loud hyperventilating alongside her crying.

Fukawa had cried herself to sleep, sleeping in an uncomfortable position where she used her knees as a pillow. She didn't sleep for very long either. She awoke herself with panic as she was sure she felt a hand touch her. She looked around, as if it would help her at all. She bit her thumbnail as she started upsetting herself into tears again. She had no idea what time it was and when her father was going to let her out of there.

She had stared at her black surroundings for a very long time until the light in the kitchen came on, making her gasp and press herself near the door, "P-please, let me out..." She called out, nowhere near the same amount of energy as the night before. She was sore all over and her head was throbbing from the strange position she had slept in. She knew that her efforts were again for not, but she thought that she would try.

She let out a small cry before calling out, "A-at least give me something to eat...?" She asked, her stomach conveniently rumbling at the same time.

Instead of anything positive coming from asking for food, whoever had been in the kitchen turned the light off and walked by the closet, hitting it really hard, scaring Fukawa into hitting her head against the back of the closet. She let out a whine and cowered down, curling up again, holding her knees tightly.

The light didn't come on again for a very long time, and Fukawa had fallen asleep once more. She had imagined that things were touching her and that no one was ever going to come for her and she was going to starve to death in that closet. She didn't even know how long it had been since she had been locked up.

Once again, the girl was startled awake by her own imagination. She had had a dream that her father had hit her so much that she was dying. She felt that way physically, even without her father's beatings. At that moment, all of her joints ached and her stomach was twisting uncomfortably. She had to take slow, deep breaths in to keep herself from most of the pain. She had dry heaved many times from the nausea that came alongside being hungry.

Fukawa tapped at the door, wondering how long her father was going to keep her in that closet. She hated it so much. Being in the dark was already something that she really hated, and now she was forced to stay somewhere really small in the dark, without food.

After what felt like another day to the writer, the light in the kitchen came on again. She perked up again, but didn't really expect much, as she was sure at that point that she was going to stay there and starve to death. She was so certain of it that she didn't even want to call out for help anymore.

As soon as Fukawa was about to close her door and give up completely on the thought of anyone opening the door, the door opened. Fukawa flinched away, the light hurting her eyes. She almost iterally rolled out though, because she had been leaning against the door.

"You better not mess up another test again." Her father said, obviously the person who opened the door for her. It seemed like her punishment was over.

"I-I won't, father." Fukawa said, pushing herself off of the ground, even though it hurt. She wanted to get to her room without angering her father in any way. She quickly scurried away, going straight to the bathroom. Even though she wanted to go to her room, she had worked very hard to hold all of her bodily waste in, not wanting to do anything at all that would anger her father.

After relieving herself of three day's worth of waste, she rushed to her room, locking the door behind her. She collapsed onto her bed, tears running down her face. She laid down in her bed and cried to herself until she fell asleep.


End file.
